Singapore Still Not the Highest in Home Capital Jump

RESIDENTIAL MARKET

Domestic buys behind world home price hike

CITIES experiencing strong domestic demand for homes, such as Hong Kong, Moscow, London and Singapore, recorded the strongest growth in home prices in the first six months of the year. Hong Kong registered the sharpest jump in prices to top the chart as the most expensive city to buy a home in.

The report, which studies 10 of the world's leading cities, showed that the strongest price growth was reported in places with buoyant domestic demand, while international investor cash retreated to a few core markets with established, long-term investment credentials.

Singapore, which has been trying to cool its property market, recorded a more modest 1.5 per cent jump in the capital value of its homes in the first six months of this year from the end of last year, compared with a 3.6 per cent rise in the second half of last year. It was fifth in the list of cities that registered the highest jump in home prices.

Data from the Urban Redevelopment Authority (URA) released in July showed that developers had sold 11,928 private homes excluding executive condos (a public-private housing hybrid) in H1 2012 - three-quarters of the 15,904 units they sold in the whole of 2011. Analysts predict a full-year 2012 tally of 18,000 to 22,000 units, surpassing 2010's record of 16,292 units.

URA's benchmark private home price index rose 0.4 per cent in Q2 from the previous quarter, after declining 0.1 per cent in Q1.

Source: Business Times – 11 September 2012